Together We Will Go

Finished August 6

Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski

This is a road trip novel with a twist. Mark Antonelli is a man who has tried to make a living as a writer and has been unable to do so. After the last rejection, he decides to use his savings to buy a used tour bus and do a road trip from his home in Florida across the United States, picking up passengers as he goes along, and ending up in San Francisco where they will find a cliff at sunset and drive over. He place an ad online for a short period and gets numerous responses and then removes the ad in case someone tries to trace it. 

He hires a driver, Dylan, who is ex-military, and while he is aware of the plan, does not want to die himself, and won't be taking the final drive. Mark has set up a system on board the bus that people can log into and tell their stories. There is a cloud backup. This is part of the plan, The participants will sign a form giving the rights to their stories, and after the end of the trip the texts will be automatically put on to the public for greater understanding of how people struggle with different issues.

The story is told through these diary-like entries that people make, including some that are voice-to-text, and through emails and texts exchanged between the participants and with a few people not part of this trip. This means that we see both interactions between the characters as well as their pasts that led them to this choice, and their thoughts that they record. 

The characters that join the bus make their choice for a wide variety of reasons, from chronic pain, medical issues that they haven't been able to afford to resolve (because this is the U.S. where healthcare isn't a given), addictions, mental health issues, social issues like being ostracized and bullied, and guilt over past actions. All of the characters feel their issues are significant enough that they don't want to go on, they don't want to continue the struggle, and being aware of their thought processes is quite eye-opening. 

As they go along, they interact with the outside world, and sometimes that has consequences that they haven't prepared themselves for. 

This is a moving story with an unexpected ending. And yes, that cat on the cover does have a meaning.

Mary Coin

Finished August 31

Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

This novel was inspired by the cover picture. Taken by Dorothea Lange, and called Migrant Mother, the photograph of Florence Owens Thompson became famous and opened many doors for Lange. The author creates a fictional woman, Mary Coin, as the subject of this photo and the novel follows Mary from her childhood through her marriage, her travels in search of employment, up until the moment of the photograph. It also follows the photographer, here named Vera Dare Everett, as she too marries, has children, and tries to create her own career through her art. 

Staying relatively closely to the real facts of the women's lives, Silver brings them to life by letting us see inside their thoughts, their motivations, and their drive to live as they want, as they must. She tells the larger story of the Depression in America and the desperate search for jobs to feed oneself and one's family, from a uniquely female viewpoint.

Tying it all together is a man in the current day, an anthropology professor named Walker Dodge. Walker's specialty is the study of common people and their lives. He looks at diaries, official records, ephemera, and relics of their lives as he pieces together how they lived. Walker loses his father near the beginning of the book, and as he cleans out the house, he finds boxes of papers in the basement and begins to treat the situation as a case study from his own work perspective. His research leads him to these women, and that key connection point with its resulting fame.

She also looks at the aftermath, Vera's fame and further career, what happened to Mary and her children, and how that small connection became an important moment in both their lives. 

An amazing story of two women forging their lives during a difficult time, told with realism and compassion, and the serendipity of life and the chance meetings that change lives.  

Quakeland

Finished August 29

Quakeland: On the Road to America's Next Devastating Earthquake by Kathryn Miles

This science novel by journalist Miles looks at the nature of earthquakes, mainly in the United States, both those naturally occurring and those that happened as a result of human actions. Many people think of earthquakes as something that happens in specific parts of the country like California, Hawaii, and Alaska, but as Miles travels around the country, she goes to many locations that have experienced major earthquakes in the past and/or lie of fault lines and that pose real risks of catastrophic earthquakes in the near future. 

She looks at the relatively short history of our understanding of earthquakes and how we have learned what we do know. She talks to many scientists from across the country, sometimes going on expeditions with them and accompanying them on research trips, lectures, and other explorations. While her main focus is on the risk of earthquakes in different parts of the United States, her discussions include earthquakes that have happened in other parts of the world, both in the distant and near past. I really enjoyed how she explored the subject from so many different angles. She looks at the study of core samples from fault lines, using tree rings to date earthquakes from the past, how actions such as mining, fracking, reservoirs, and other human activities have caused earthquakes in different areas and how we discovered and are still studying this connection. 

As a journalist she shows her discoveries through the science she is explaining in easily understandable terms, and doesn't impose judgement. She talks about the difficulties of mitigating risk due to much of the existing infrastructure not built to withstand the complex forces that earthquakes can have, and how they are one of the few natural disasters that it is difficult to predict in advance. 

She shows the scientists she talks to as people, with their own quirks and personalities, and makes her explorations come alive through her personal experiences. I learned so much from this book, and found the research that is going on in this area of science fascinating. 

The Poetry of Strangers

Finished July 23

The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter by Brian Sonia-Wallace

This memoir is composed of several essays on different experiences the author had while interacting with the public in different environments as a public poet. He started his journey in this line in 2012 shortly after returning home to California after studying abroad. He had a borrowed typewriter that wasn't in the greatest shape and he sat outside an event and offered poetry to those waiting in line. He asked them to pay what they thought the poem was worth, and he found many of the people did indeed think that it was worth something. Following that he decided to see if he could make a living doing this work, and he did. He found himself not only doing public sidewalk poetry, but also corporate events, weddings, entertainment venues, and "in residence" appearances. He helped one aspiring immigrant to get his poems published. He interacted with people running for office, recovering from devastating fires, living lives outside the norm as itinerant buskers, craftsmen, seers, and poets. 

He worked writing poetry on Amtrak trains, at the Mall of America, and at the Electric Forest music festival. He taught others, both adults and children. He made friends and made connections, some of them very deep. He looked into himself and found skills he didn't realize that he had.

Through many of his situations, he includes examples of poems that he wrote at those events. For his experience with the immigrant, Jeremias Leonel Estrada, he includes some of Estrada's poems as well. All of these I enjoyed. 

His experiences took him all over the country, and opened his eyes to experiences he might never have come into contact with otherwise. This is a fascinating account of his experiences that enlightens the reader and gives hope. 

Sky Girls

Finished January 21
Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race by Gene Nora Jessen

This was a fascinating read, and my book club enjoyed it as well. The race this book tells the story of took place in 1929, and the female pilots did the solo race from Clover Field in Santa Monica, California to Cleveland, the site of the Cleveland Air Races. The race was the Women's Air Derby, the first of its kind, although similar races already existed for male pilots. Male Derbys from both the east and the west were also happening at the same time. Once at Cleveland, several of the women pilots would also engage in other races and competitions.
The race had many legs, and the women were timed for each leg, getting a cumulative total that was their race time. There were prizes for each leg, as well as overall prizes. The race follows one woman, Louise Thaden, a little more closely than the others. She was a saleswoman for Travel Air Manufacturing Company, and would be flying one of their fairly new planes.
This book touches on each woman's experiences during the race, their difficulties, and their interactions with others. It was interesting to see the lack of safety considerations, the lack of security for the planes at most of the stops, and the ways in which ordinary people offered assistance when it was needed.
The woman were mostly experienced pilots, and all fairly young. The oldest was born in 1896 and the youngest in 1910. They were mostly American, although one was German and one Australian. One pilot died during the race, likely due to poor airplane design causing carbon monoxide poisoning. Crowds interfered with runway safety, causing the crash of at least one pilot and her subsequent withdrawal from the race. I enjoyed learning about the women themselves, although my book club members all agreed we would have liked to learn more about all of them.
The personalities were wide-ranging from the rebellious, go-my-own-way Pancho Barnes, to the petite, budding actress Blanche Noyes and the boyish Bobbi Trout. All of the women had some mechanical know-how, necessary for pilots of that time.
The stops along the way were well-attended, but not well-managed, and the women found the socializing stressful when they were already tired from their race. But they were mostly gracious, even in the face of those that wanted women to "stay in their place". The support of Will Rogers and Wiley Post were appreciated by the pilots.
I liked the maps that were included, and the epilogue that summarized the pilots' lives after the race. Also of great interest was the Afterword that included a lot of the more general history of women and aviation.
Enlightening overall.

Golden Age

Finished November 5
Golden Age by Jane Smiley, read by Lorelei King

This is the third book in a trilogy. I read the second one Early Warning a while back. This novel opens in 1987 and takes us up to the present.
The books follow the Langdon family. Here we see twin brothers Michael and Richie, who take very different paths in their lives, separate and come back together, and separate again. Their relationship is very complicated. Their lives involve politics and high finance, fraud and betrayal. Their sister Janet is distant, dealing with her own baggage and finds solace in horses and solitude.
The youngest generation from the family line still on the Iowa farm chooses different paths away. Two of them go into the military, serving in Iraq, and dealing with the effects of that experience. The daughter, Felicity, focuses on the environment and worries about health and sustainability.
I was completely drawn into the character's lives, reacting strongly to the betrayals suffered and the pain felt. This, along with the earlier books, is a story of America over generations, one that is as complex as the lives of the characters. We see their world evolve and priorities change, and we see how they react and how they connect.
A wonderful read.

Hillbilly Elegy

Finished April 14
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

I had this book on my shelf at home for a while, and finally was prodded to read it by it being my book club read. It is a personal book, about the author's own experience of an absent father, an addict mother who wasn't often there for him, two grandparents that raised him for the most part, and an older half-sister who tried to do what was right for him as much as she could.
It is a story of being raised in both the factory towns of Ohio and the hills of the Appalachians. It is about those around him who adjusted well to the urban life, and those who did not. It is about poverty, and the rise and loss of American manufacturing jobs, about how education and home life combine to keep children on the path towards a happy and fulfilling life.
I enjoyed it, but also was aware from other reading that I've done, that it only shows part of the story of America. The more stories we learn from the many different experiences, help us to understand what is right and what is wrong with the current situation, and hopefully those that set policy read and listen and learn from stories like this.

The Middleman

Finished October 5
The Middleman by Olen Steinhauer

This thriller revolves around a man, Martin Bishop, who wants to create peaceful change. His hope for change is common to many of us today, who see big corporations wielding too much power, and see the wealth gap growing. Bishop's followers are mostly young people, stuck in dead-end jobs and seeing no promising future.
The book opens with one of them, Kevin Moore, ex-military, living in San Francisco. One day he receives a cryptic message that he has been waiting for. He dumps his wallet and phone, and walks away from life, waiting at a pre-arranged spot to be picked up. He is one of hundreds of people going through similar actions that day and on the coming few days.
Bishop's movement is called the Massive Brigade, and while some think of them as peaceful as Martin makes them out to be, using the threat of violence to make change, rather than violence itself. But others think of them as terrorists, and, when the group takes responsibility for a series of violent acts, acts that Kevin is made part of, it seems that the question has been answered.
Rachel Proulx of the FBI has been following Martin for years, and believes she understands him to a large extent, and these actions surprise her. Another FBI agent, is assigned to her group, and seems to not always be doing what Rachel expects him to do. When she finds him responsible for an event she did not condone, she starts to ask questions.
But Rachel is sidelined and attacked, and it will be many months before she and others start to ask questions again. This time, will anybody listen to them?

Wrap-Up of Where Are You Reading Challenge 2015-16

Well, I still didn't finish all the states. I did learn how some states are harder to find books set in, and the preponderance of certain states when it comes to settings, particularly New York and California.
I will still try to find books in the states I haven't yet read (I have a book set in Delaware out from the library right now!), but will close this challenge out officially.

Where Are You Reading Challenge 2015 (plus 2016)

Read books from all 50 states, plus I've added D.C. as well. 

My books are:

1. Massachusetts: Enon by Paul Harding. Finished January 1

2. New York: A House on the Heights by Truman Capote. Finished January 31

3. Wisconsin: Shoot the Lawyer Twice by Michael A Bowen. Finished February 7

4. Washington, D.C.: Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman. Finished February 25

5. Alaska: The Romanov Cross by Robert Masello. Finished March 7

6. California: Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer. Finished March 14

7. Florida: Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews. Finished March 28

8. Maryland: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Finished April 10

9. Texas: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain. Finished April 12

10. Vermont: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian. Finished April 27

11. Illinois: C.O.W.L Volume 1 Principles of Power by Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis. Finished May 4

12. Pennsylvania: Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner. Finished May 7

13. Minnesota: Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Finished May 7

14. Utah: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. Finished June 13

15. Oregon: The Wilding by Benjamin Perry. Finished June 17

16. Kentucky: Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy. Finished July 7

17. New Jersey: Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight. Finished July 20

18. New Hampshire: The Arsonist by Sue Miller. Finished August 9

19. Georgia: Yankee in Atlanta by Jocelyn Green. Finished September 4

20. Connecticut: The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine. Finished September 21

21. Colorado: Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley. Finished September 27

22. Missouri: The Ragtime Fool by Larry Karp. Finished October 5

23. Iowa: Early Warning by Jane Smiley. Finished October 18

24. Maine: The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron. Finished November 10

25. Oklahoma: Make Me by Lee Child. Finished November 18

26. Montana: The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo. Finished December 5

27. North Carolina: Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash. Finished December 21

28. Tennessee: We Were Brothers by Barry Moser. Finished December 31

29. Alabama: Read and Buried by Erika Chase. Finished February 27

30. Idaho: This Is Why by Leland Spencer. Finished March 27

31. Indiana: Lead Me Home by Amy K. Sorrells. Finished April 9

32. Ohio: Never Come Back by David Bell. Finished August 29

33. Nebraska: Stripped Bare by Shannon Baker. Finished September 30

34. Michigan: Untethered by Julie Lawson Timmer. Finished October 3

35. Arizona: The Scoundrel by Lisa Plumley. Finished October 12

36. Arkansas: Sit! Stay! Speak! by Annie England Noblin. Finished October 24

37. Washington: The Rejected Writers' Book Club by Suzanne Kelman. Finished November 1

38. Hawaii: Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell. Finished November 14

39. Virginia: The Undertaker's Wife by Dee Oliver. Finished November 17

40. West Virginia: A Killing in the Hills by Julia Keller. Finished November 24

41. Mississippi: Miss Jane by Brad Watson. Finished December 18

Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus

Finished August 11
Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus by Joyce Magnin

Harriet Beamer was expecting her son Henry and his wife Prudence just before Christmas, and while preparing the house she fell and hurt her leg. Insisting that she wasn't badly hurt against her daughter-in-law's worries, Harriet agreed to move out to California from her home in Pennsylvania if she had truly broken something. And so the motivation for the plot of the novel is set.
As she is doing the final preparations to give her house up to the new owners and hand over her belongings to the mover, Harriet is suddenly struck by the realization that she has never really been anywhere. Her late husband Max wasn't a big traveller and so they only did an annual trip to the Jersey shore each summer, and she hasn't gone anywhere since his death fifteen years ago. As she packs up her large collection of salt and pepper shakers, she sees that they have all been given to her by others who travelled to these places. And so, she sends her aging, beloved dog Humphrey out to her son by plane and decides to travel west her own way, using local buses and trains as much as possible to see the country.
Henry, more than Prudence, worries about her travelling alone in such a way, but her friend Martha is supportive. As she wanders west, seeing the sights, purchasing more salt and pepper shakers and sending them ahead, and making new acquaintances, Harriet gains confidence, knowledge and rich experiences. She documents her trip in her journal, writing to her late husband there, and relying on a higher power to take her where she needs to go.
This is a novel of faith, of adventure, and of independence. Harriet is a real character, and I enjoyed her moments of discovery, her quiet calmness in adversity, and her sense of adventure.

Underground Airlines

Finished July 17
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters

This novel of is set in a United States with an alternate history. This is a United States that didn't go through a Civil War, where Abraham Lincoln was killed just a bit earlier than in our reality, where slavery still exists in some states.
Given the state of things in the U.S. today, this is a novel with a terrifying premise. Victor is a black man working as an undercover slave hunter for the U.S. Marshall Service, in their mandate to enforce the 1793 Fugitive Persons Law. Why would a black man take on such a job? Easy, Victor himself is an escaped slave, blackmailed into this role to maintain his own freedom from being returned to that life.
The Underground Airlines of the title is the modern name for the Underground Railroad, still trying to free people, move them north, and help some of them exit the country entirely, many to Canada. At the point of this novel, there are only four states that still have slavery, known as the Hard Four. Other slave states renounced slavery at various times, and for various reasons. There are rules around the products that come from the slave states. Some other states have enacted Clean Hands laws to keep such goods out of the hands of their citizens. Some countries won't trade with the U.S. because of their situation.
With this particular case, Victor finds himself less able to distance himself from what he is doing, caught up in his own memories of slavery, escape, and a life of looking over his shoulder. The file is messy and raises questions, and the reaction of his unseen handler back in Washington is not normal for their interaction on these cases.
Staying at the same hotel as Victor is a white woman and her black son. Victor also gets drawn into their story, and finds a connection he didn't expect.
Winters has built a world with a history, laws, international connections, and corruption that feels so possible it is scary. Black people's skin colour is classified with a numerical and textual chart. For instance the man Victor is searching for is classified as "late-summer honey, warm tone, #76". Slaves are tattooed on the back of their necks with the logos of their owning plantation corporations. I was completely caught up in the story, barely able to put it down. A wonderful, disturbing, and important read.

Written in Fire

Finished June 17
Written in Fire by Marcus Sakey, performed by Luke Daniels

This is the last book of a trilogy, of which I have not read the first two. I was still able to get up to speed fairly quickly on the situation. Sometime around 1980, people started being born with exceptional abilities. Some could hear or see better. Many were exceptionally smart, especially in the sciences. Some had the ability to predict movement by people around them. Some had abilities that made life immensely difficult, like one man who life moved much more quickly for him, so that the actions and words and sounds around him were all in slow motion.
Many of the people were discriminated against, put in special academies that were more like prisons. So some of them rebelled, tried to form their own societies.
As this book begins, about thirty years have passed. The book follows Nick Cooper, a man who has tried to do the best for his country and the people on both sides. Nick is a brilliant himself. He has worked for the government, trying to work against those that would destroy it. But other brilliants would take revenge on the rest of the world for how they have been treated, and are willing to destroy the rest of humanity to do so. In a world where people are fighting for their lives, trying to keep their families and friends safe, Nick struggles to figure out how to keep his family and country safe as things come to a head at a community in Wyoming.
There is a good storyline here, and lots of interesting characters. The only drawback I found was that it was all U.S. centric. I had no sense of how the rest of the world had reacted or if other countries were facing similar issues.

Where Are You Reading Challenge 2015 Wrap-Up and Re-Challenge for 2016

Where Are You Reading Challenge

The challenge is to read books from all 50 states, plus I've added D.C. as well. This can be extended outside of the US, but I kept it there. I finished slightly more than half at DC and 27 states. I plan to continue this challenge for 2016 to finish it off. 

Finished in 2015:

1. Massachusetts: Enon by Paul Harding. Finished January 1
2. New York: A House on the Heights by Truman Capote. Finished January 31
3. Wisconsin: Shoot the Lawyer Twice by Michael A Bowen. Finished February 7
4. Washington, D.C.: Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman. Finished February 25
5. Alaska: The Romanov Cross by Robert Masello. Finished March 7
6. California: Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer. Finished March 14
7. Florida: Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews. Finished March 28
8. Maryland: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Finished April 10
9. Texas: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain. Finished April 12
10. Vermont: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian. Finished April 27
11. Illinois: C.O.W.L Volume 1 Principles of Power by Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis. Finished May 4
12. Pennsylvania: Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner. Finished May 7
13. Minnesota: Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Finished May 7
14. Utah: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. Finished June 13
15. Oregon: The Wilding by Benjamin Perry. Finished June 17
16. Kentucky: Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy. Finished July 7
17. New Jersey: Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight. Finished July 20
18. New Hampshire: The Arsonist by Sue Miller. Finished August 9
19. Georgia: Yankee in Atlanta by Jocelyn Green. Finished September 4
20. Connecticut: The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine. Finished September 21
21. Colorado: Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley. Finished September 27
22. Missouri: The Ragtime Fool by Larry Karp. Finished October 5
23. Iowa: Early Warning by Jane Smiley. Finished October 18
24. Maine: The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron. Finished November 10
25. Oklahoma: Make Me by Lee Child. Finished November 18
26. Montana: The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo. Finished December 5
27. North Carolina: Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash. Finished December 21
28. Tennessee: We Were Brothers by Barry Moser. Finished December 31

Challenge for 2016:

1. Alabama:

2. Arizona: 

3. Arkansas:

4. Delaware: 

5. Hawaii: 

6. Idaho: 

7. Indiana: 

8. Kansas: 

9. Louisiana: 

10. Michigan: 

11. Mississippi

12. Nebraska

13. Nevada

14. New Mexico

15. North Dakota

16. Ohio

17. Rhode Island

18. South Carolina

19. South Dakota

20. Virginia

21. Washington

22. West Virginia

23. Wyoming

Between the World and Me

Finished October 27
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, read by the author

This book, especially with the author reading it, felt almost like a stream of consciousness performance. It is written as a communication from Coates to his teenage son and, while focused on the social truths of being black in America, is about the larger culture, the history of issues of "the other", the concerns of parents for their children and their children's future, and the future of the country itself.
This book is emotional, yet steeped in history and facts. It is a story of Coates' life, and the lives of other Americans struggling against the history and culture of the United States that defines someone by what they look like.
I found it moving, thought-provoking, and enlightening, and urge others to read or, even better, listen to it.

Early Warning

Finished October 18
Early Warning by Jane Smiley, read by Lorelei King

This book follows the Langdon family from 1953 to the early 1980s. As the book opens, the patriarch of the family, Walter, has died, and the family convenes in Iowa for his funeral. His wife Rosanna remains on the farm, as does one of the sons, Joe, who married Lois, and has a son Jesse, and later a daughter. Frank has made his way to Washinton, D.C. where he becomes a mover and shaker in the corporate world, drawing on some of his experiences as a sniper in World War Two. Frank has married Andy, a woman with her own issues, and had first a daughter and then twin sons, who have a lifelong rivalry. Lilian has been swept off her feet and to the East coast by Arthur, a CIA planner, and they have four children, two boy and two girls. Claire marries thoughtfully, but finds her husband a very controlling man, and it takes her some time to find her own place in the world, after having two sons.
The novel takes us through all the major events of the time period, from Vietnam to anti-war demonstrations, from the Cold War to the Cuban Missile Crisis and Watergate, from LSD to Jim Jones. The characters become involved in some ways peripherally and in others directly, and we see tragedy, joy, marriage, divorce, addiction, psychoanalysis, and of course the growth of a new generation of characters. It continues the story started in Some Luck, which I haven't yet read, and a third volume is expected. The characters vary in depth, and we see growth in all the main characters, both in experience as well as age. A very enjoyable book that gives a taste of the times it is set in. A book of America in the mid-to-late twentieth century.

A Jury of Her Peers

Finished April 13
A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx by Elaine Showalter

This overview of American women writers covers the entire history of the topic from the beginnings of the country to the end of the twentieth century. Showalter includes more than 250 women writers in her commentary from poets to dramatists to short story writers and novelists. She touches on not only the obvious issues of gender, but also race, class, and politics.
The book is arranged chronologically with authors reappearing in different chapters as their writing carries over multiple time frames. As the book gets closer to the present, the time frames shorten to decades. Showalter looks at the writing in its context, examining the personal lives of the writers, how their experiences shaped their writing and their lives, and how outside forces reacted to their writing. Some drew support from male writers of their time, while others did not. Some flourished economically but not critically. Some did well at the time of writing and grew less significant in following years, others didn't do well during their lives, but became more valued later. Some had to sacrifice their preferences in the type of writing they wanted to do due to the pressures of economics, family situations, or prejudice.
There were a lot of writers I had never heard of, but also many that I've heard of but never read (some of them I've even got the books on my shelves!) And of course ones I've read and loved, or read and not loved. This book will help to guide some of my future reading.
Showalter gives us a history but also includes some criticism here, occasionally making clear her own views on the writers' works, and the reasoning behind those views.
The title is taken from a short story that was adapted from a play. The author, Susan Glaspell was a journalist who covered a murder case where a woman was accused of murdering her husband, and then was so fascinated by the case that she developed it into both a play and a short story. When the county attorney and sheriff go to the house to gather information, their wives accompany them and looking through a woman's eyes make their own discoveries and decisions about her actions. Of course, real juries at the time of the case, 1917, didn't include women and the link is made in this book from legal juries to literary juries. Glaspell won a Pulitzer Prize in 1931 and yet didn't rate inclusion in literary overviews even at her death nearly 20 years later. Questions are raised by the question of "peer" and what that means both legally and in a literary sense.What judgments have been made about the subject matter women chose to address in their writing at various times is discussed as is the change over time to the situation today where a woman writer can, without judgment choose any subject she wishes to write about.
A work leading to reflection, more reading, and thoughtful response.

Where are You Reading Challenge 2015

2015 WHERE Are You Reading Challenge

The sign up for this challenge is here.

I don't live in the United States, but since I already do both a Canadian Reading Challenge and a European one, it made sense to try to see how far I'd get covering US geography.

This post will act as both my signup page and my progress page, adding the links to reviews as I do them. I also added a spot for the D.C. area.  

Alabama:

Alaska: The Romanov Cross by Robert Masello. Finished March 7

Arizona:

Arkansas:

California: Frameshift by Robert J. Sawyer. Finished March 14

Colorado: Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley. Finished September 27

Connecticut: The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine. Finished September 21

Delaware

District of Columbia: Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman. Finished February 25

Florida: Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews. Finished March 28

Georgia: Yankee in Atlanta by Jocelyn Green. Finished September 4

Hawaii:

Idaho:

Illinois: C.O.W.L Volume 1 Principles of Power by Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis.     
     Finished May 4

Indiana

Iowa: Early Warning by Jane Smiley. Finished October 18

Kansas

Kentucky: Let Me Die in His Footsteps by Lori Roy. Finished July 7

Louisiana:

Maine: The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron. Finished November 10

Maryland: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Finished April 10

Massachusetts: Enon by Paul Harding. Finished January 1

Michigan: 
Minnesota: Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Finished May 7

Mississippi

Missouri: The Ragtime Fool by Larry Karp. Finished October 5

Montana: The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo. Finished December 5

Nebraska:

Nevada:

New Hampshire:

New Jersey:  Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight. Finished July 20

New Mexico

New York: A House on the Heights by Truman Capote. Finished January 31

North Carolina: Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash. Finished December 21

North Dakota

Ohio:

Oklahoma: Make Me by Lee Child. Finished November 18

Oregon: The Wilding by Benjamin Percy. Finished June 17

Pennsylvania: Road to Reckoning by Robert Lautner. Finished May 7

Rhode Island

South Carolina:

South Dakota

Tennessee: We Were Brothers by Barry Moser. Finished December 31

Texas: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain. Finished April 12

Utah: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. Finished June 17

Vermont: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian. Finished April 27

Virginia:

Washington:

West Virginia

Wisconsin: Shoot the Lawyer Twice by Michael A. Bowen. Finished February 7

Wyoming: